Re: Serie A Thread - 2008/2009 Season
What do you think about the Zarate saga Ben? I think Lotito is doing a great job paying off Lazio's debts in the last 3 years, even if he is unpopular...
i'm not really updated about the zarate deal. i don't know how many millions we're talking about here. i heard a rumour about 20 millions, but i hope that's not true as it would be a rip off. zarate is NOT a 20 million euros player.
it's quite a tricky situation coz now lotito will be basically forced by the fans to buy zarate, even if the arabs would ask for a ridiculously high ammount of money.
however zarate is an interesting player with a very good potential... there's hope he'll turn out to be a great player someday, so, if they'll pay the right price, he will be a good signing.
as for lotito, i think lazio fans should drop roses petals on his path as he's walking. what lotito did is even more impressive than what the sensi family did at roma.
coz lazio's overdraft was huge (can't remember the exact amount right now, but it was something between 200 and 300 millions euros...)
lotito could have bought the club after the bankrupt... then he wouldn't have been forced to pay cragnotti's debts.
but no, he didn't want to speculate on lazio's misfortunes. he didn't want lazio to loose its titles, its company name. he didn't want lazio to be sent in serie c (wich is the first consequence of the bankrupt).
so he bought the club, before the bankrupt and saved it. he took on his shoulders other peoples debts (cragnotti's debts), he arranged an instalment plan with both the banks and the tax office.
and in the meanwhile he was also able to rebuild the team... and what a team he built!
those idiots who don't respect and admire lotito for what he did for lazio, they don't deserve a president like lotito. those fools should have gone through what fiorentina and napoli fans faced..... maybe they would appreciate lotito then.
however (and this must be said) in the last 2 years most of lazio fans finally realised what a great man, great businessman and what a great chairman lotito has been.
it was fucking time!
Leo messi said:
what do you think about Totti?
Totti might look overpaid today (for the italian standards i mean... 5 millions would be a fair wage for him in england), but u have to keep in mind in wich moment he signed that 5 millions deal with roma. when totti reached that agreement with franco sensi, he was (along with zidane) the unquestioned best player in the world in his role. 5 millions were a fair wage those days.
today the situation is different. he's not the best player in the world (of course), he's not even a midfielder anymore, his legs are a mess and he misses an awful lot of matches every season........
but u don't renegotiate a deal terms until that contract is about to expire. that's how it goes. so, when totti's contract will be about to expire, he will renew it and his wage will be lowered, as it happened with zanetti and maldini.
u mention damiano tommasi.... but how many players in the world would do what damiano did? damiano is unique, he's a kind soul with the purest heart. he is a special human being.... if other people would act like him... i mean... if even a gross person like totti would act like him, then damiano wouldn't be special anymore, don't u think?
and btw mate u're not really comparing an uncouth person like totti to maldini and zanetti aren't u? i mean they share the world class status, the icon status, but that's all. in terms of class, style, composure, Paolo and Javier are on another planet.
but that doesn't mean he's not the right leader for roma (u don't have to be classy to be a leader.. i mean take a look at keane at manchester utd). the only thing that matters is how your teammates look at u. being a captain is not a matter of image; is a matter of charisma and respect. and that's why the players are the only ones entitled to pick their own captain.
and the fact that totti wanna save as much money as he can (before his carreer will be over) doesn't mean that he doesn't love roma
Gerd said:
Coïncidentally the Guardian's very good football podcast talked about Roma and Rosella.
good british football journalism? that sounds new to me!
do u mind sending me a link to that specific podcast, Gerd? it would be nice to hear a british football journalist who actually knows what he's talking about, for a change.
anyhow, if they actually said roma is gonna sell totti and de rossi, i don't think they deserve much of your trust. infact it's absolutely impossible that those 2 guys will leave.
totti is an icon in roma... he's pretty much like the colosseo... and even though his ankles too are as messed up as the colosseo, he's not going anywhere. he will follow the same path of Conti, namely end his carreer and become a manager (some kinda sport director)... wich is pretty much the same thing juve will do with del piero (on this concern, i can already see del piero becoming a great sport director... but can u imagine totti in that role?.... LOL!
anyhow roma didn't sell him when their financial situation was critical (6 years ago)... there's no reason to sell him now.
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i do realise i wasn't very accurate in my previous post. it's not like roma has to sell some of their best players in order to pay off those debts actually. they already have the cash they need, and they will have no problems in respecting the terms of the instalment plan they reached with banca intesa.
the thing is the club structure reached its limits. if u wanna be faithful to a financial strategy that allows the club to fund itself, then u can't go any further than that.
roma reached a treshold. in order to reach the following level (man utd, chelsea, barcelona level), they should abandon their strategies and follow those clubs strategies.
Imho it would be a shame.
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so it's not like the club desperately needs money. the thing is they will hardly be able to afford to renew all those contracts (as many of those players will obviously ask for higher wages).
as for de rossi.... that's even more impossible that totti leaving. de rossi has the same bond with the city, the club and the fans, that totti has. like totti (a few years ago) daniele is today the unquestioned best player in the world in his role (wich means that by selling him, roma would loose much of his value, talking about possible investitors).
he's gonna spend his entire carreer in roma and will get totti's captain armband as soon as francesco will retire.
mexes or aquilani are much more likely to leave.
YoungGun_UK said:
Does having your club host the CL final have any financial benefit or will UEFA eat up all that?
nah mate, as stefano said, roma and lazio won't get a cent.
on this concern, i'll never understand what the hell were uefa people thinking when they picked roma to host this final....
i just can't understand what's the logic behind this decision.
